HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-16-09 Parking Commission Minutes
Bozeman Parking Commission Meeting
September 16, 2009 at 7:30 a.m.
Upstairs Conference Room of City Hall
Parking Commissioners in Attendance:
Chris Pope
Lisa Danzl-Scott
Pam Bryan
Tammy Hauer
Chris Naumann
Steve Schnee
City Staff in Attendance:
Shannon Fish, Parking Clerk
Paul Burns, Parking Manager
Rich McLane, Lieutenant
Pattie Berg, HR Director
Guests in Attendance:
Jeff Rupp, Commissioner
Action Items: N/A
Chris Pope called the meeting to order at 7:36 am.
0:03:44 7:39:58 2. Identify “internal issues” to resolved between COB-BPD-BPC (this has
been done by Paul and Rich, but the PC doesn’t have any details)
Pattie Berg attended to discuss some of the changes regarding the parking officers and some of the
MPEA guidelines and other issues that might come up with this change of supervisor.
One of the things that Pattie got an email about was contracting out for an officer. Pattie believes
that doing this in the future would cause more problems than not. She had heard that if you were
not a government employee this person would not be allowed to boot someone’s car. This will have
to be looked into further.
As Pattie understands it, the employees that this would include are Bob and June and also the 3/4
time person that we will be hiring for. If they will be employees of the City then Patti has heard that
the Parking Commission has to get Chris Kukulski's approval to hire and fire them.
If this person has 1,050 hours per year and they do not fall into the Police Department or Fire
department then they fall into MPEA. Patti would have to send a letter to the union members to let
them know that these employees are going to be switching to another supervisor/department.
Pam asked how they will be paid and if their pay rate was going to change at all? Pattie stated that
back in 2007 there was a pay study done and there were 12 cities surveyed and then a market pay
was chosen for all MPEA paid positions.
Chris Pope questioned how much can these Ambassadors be paid? How can we change what they
are paid? He would like to have the best person for the position and have them paid as much as we
can. Currently the Parking Officer position is at $10.28 to start and $11.34 for 94%. With this the
City also offers benefits including retirement and insurance.
Pattie noted that in Chris Pope’s letter, he mentioned an employee handbook. Pattie stated that
the employee handbook is provided by the City but the Parking Commission can have a policy and
procedures manual to help support their employees. This could just be approved through Paul and
the Parking Commission.
Rich would like to know if the letter to MPEA is something that can be done within the next four
months, or do we have to have a specific date to put into the letter. The problem with not having a
firm date is that MPEA needs to get back to us in a timely manner. If we don't have this date then
MPEA would not have to get back to us and they could hold it up.
Pam would like to know if there is any issue with driving the enforcement vehicles. Rich stated that
it is not an issue and the only change that there might be would be the look of the vehicle.
Rich would like to propose that we set some dates. We have delayed the fines till Feb 1, 2010 and
that was timed to coincide with the boot ordinance. Rich believes that if you set it for January 1st
then we will have all of the officers moved to Paul's supervision and things in place and running,
Then in the year to come we can look over and change paperwork/manuals if needed.
Chris Pope suggested that maybe we should have everything start on February 1st. The group has
agreed that January 1st should be the start date from when the officers will switch to under the
wings of Paul. Pattie would like to see the Parking Commission's standard operating procedures
manual by then so she can look it over.
0:49:53 8:26:07 3. Draft Mission Statement/Credo/Pledge for new Downtown Parking
Ambassadors
Chris Naumann believes that the Standard Operating Procedures Manual (SOP) needs to be
completed before day one with the officers switching. Everyone would like to see what the minimal
transition needs to be for that day.
Chris Pope brought a suggested draft for the new transition. He briefly read over the manual. One
idea was that the five employees on the street have one person to call and be a filter for all of the
problems that don't require a 911 call. He then briefly went over some of his suggestions for the
manual but later in the meeting it was decided that Paul’s manual will be the one that we go with.
Some things that were brought up by Rich for the minimal that are needed to run January 1, 2010
are:
1. MPEA employee notifications
2. Basic SOP manuals and guidelines.
3. Uniform and vehicle appearance.
4. Communication with the PD on roles.
5. Initial operation location
6. Legal issues defined.
7. Radio/cell phone use
Jeff Rupp commented that we should step back and take a look at things. Don't ask what the rules
are but take a hard look at everything and if we need to change some things then do so. He is saying
that this is our one chance to get everything that we ask for in this process.
Paul brought with a memo of what he prepared as a statement to employees on those behaviors
and how they will perform their jobs. In this letter there were staff policies recommended by Paul
such as wearing a safety vest, having a cell phone. After this conversation it was noted that Paul’s
draft was given the go ahead to expand on. This will be discussed at a further meeting.
Rich would like to know how everyone feels about the use of the radio with the officers. You can
keep them on a radio and have it be discreet and they have been approved by Ben Hess. Rich
believes that they should keep the radio and it is just one thing so that the customer and the officer
can be safe and alert on the street.
Steve would like to make one suggestion that we call or look at another entity and say that we
would like to see their employee handbook and operations manual. This can then become our new
manual for the ambassadors.
Respectfully submitted by:
Shannon Fish